James Patterson, Sail

I picked up Sail for a pound and I was surprised as it had only been released earlier on in the year. What a mistake. James Patterson's name may be plastered all over the front cover but beneath the title, Sail, is another, Howard Roughan. It feels like a hand holding excercise by Patterson and I couldn't see any of his trademark suspense or thrills that I had anjoyed with the Alex Cross stories. I managed to read the entire book in 4 hours. It felt like a holiday magazine short story eecked out across a pretty short novel. The paperback had large text and huge amounts of white space between chapters. To be honest halfway through a pretty likeable character was killed off and I almost gave up reading except that after another 10 minutes I'd almost got to the end. If I'd had bought this for the full retail price I'd have been really annoyed. I have always enjoyed Patterson's style, but this felt like a quickly produced, by the numbers novella released to fill a summer lull. Dreadly predictable and deadly boring.

Like Judy says, Patterson should have done some (ANY) research. I used to like books like this - when I was 12. The Hardy Boys series and the like. Sail reads exactly like a made-for-TV cheap thriller movie. The chapters about the constrictor snake? I skimmed through them in 10 seconds because they were entire rot. Sailing? Patterson knows nothing about sailing. The gun silencer pfft sounds? ONLY on TV and the movies. I will take this bit of drivel back to my local library (thank goodness I never paid for it) and tell my librarian that public money should not be wasted on stuff like this. I will never read another James Patterson.

Absolute drivel! I've never read one of James Patterson's books before, and I won't be running out to buy any more. Ridiculous plot, one dimensional characters and far too many coincidences to be plausible. I'd recommend watching paint dry quicker than reading this.

James Patterson, Sail review - The story is totally implausible. Having sailed the world for some 20 years I can assure readers that Patterson knows nothing about sailing. It is a pity he did not do some research first. The chapter about the giant constricting snake on the Bahamian island is also totally implauseble as there are no constricting snakes in that neck of the woods. Sorry James Patterson - try a bit harder next time.